Germany news. 25 arrested for an attempt to overthrow government. Twenty-five people have been arrested in raids across Germany on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. They wanted to forcefully impose a new state
The group are presumed to be members of the far-right and ex-military figures who are said to have prepared for a day dubbed ‘Day X’ to storm the Reichstag parliament building and seize power.
Who planned the coup to overthrow the government?
A minor aristocrat named as Prince Heinrich XIII (71), is alleged to have been central to their plans. According to federal prosecutors, the man appears to be one of the two alleged ringleaders among those arrested across the 11 German states.
According to BBC, the plotters are said to include members of the extremist Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement, which has long been in the sights of German police over violent attacks and racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories. They also refuse to recognise the modern German state.
There were also other suspects who originated from the QAnon movement who believe their country is in the hands of a mythical “deep state” involving secret powers pulling the political strings.
At least 3,000 agents went into action in 11 Lands of Germany, where they searched 130 apartments, offices, warehouses , including the barracks of the Special Forces command of the Bundeswehr, the federal army, located in Calw, Baden-Württemberg.
Two arrests were also made abroad, one in Austria and the other in Italy. Another 27 people were reported on the loose.
Nancy Faeser, Germany’s Interior Minister, assured people living in Germany that authorities would respond with the full force of the law “against the enemies of democracy”.
Who are the Reichsbürger?
A vast and well-connected network, whose name is not yet known, but which is inspired by the theories of the conspiracy group QAnon and the the Reichsbürger , the citizens of the Reich, an extreme right-wing movement founded in the 1980s, which considers Germany a non-sovereign country, governed by a deep state, a deep state established by the Allies after the end of the war.
It is estimated that 50 men and women are alleged to have been part of the group said to have plotted to overthrow the republic and replace it with a new state modelled on the Germany of 1871 – – an empire called the Second Reich.
They are also assumed to be part of an organisation ‘ council’ and a military arm.
Wednesday’s dawn raids are being described as one of the biggest anti-extremism operations in modern German history. Three thousand officers took part in 150 operations in 11 of Germany’s 16 states, with two people arrested in Austria and Italy.
Almost half of the arrests took place in southern states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.
The federal prosecutor’s office said the group had been plotting a violent coup since November 2021 and members of its central “Rat” (council) had since held regular meetings.
They had already established plans to rule Germany with departments covering health, justice and foreign affairs, the prosecutor said. Members understood they could only realise their goals by “military means and violence against state representatives”, which included carrying out killings.
Investigators are thought to have got wind of the group when they uncovered a kidnap plot last April involving a gang who called themselves United Patriots.